KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures climbed on Monday, tracking a rally in rival Dalian and rapeseed oil, while an upswing in exports this month also lifted prices.
The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 138 ringgit, or 2.49%, to 5,677 ringgit ($1,356.84) a tonne by the midday break, up for a third consecutive session.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-20 rose between 24.9% and 29% from the same week in January, according to cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Amspec Agri.
Palm oil fundamentals remain strong as production is not improving much, while the increased export may see Feb-end inventories falling, said Anilkumar Bagani, research head of Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.
The edible oils market has also been swayed by concerns over soybean crop losses in drought-hit South America, which may further tighten global supply.
Indian traders have contracted to import a record 100,000 tonnes of soyoil from the United States because of limited supplies from South America, at a time when prices of rival palm oil are scaling record highs.
Dalian's most-active soyoil contract rose 2.4%, while its palm oil contract jumped 2.8%.
Rapeseed oil on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange rallied nearly 4%.
The Chicago Board of Trade were closed for a public holiday.
Palm oil may test a support at 5,484 ringgit per tonne, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling into 5,366-5,425 ringgit range, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
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